We chat to the Sanrio team about their plans to grow the brand even further.
Everyone will identify with at least one of the Mr Men Little Miss characters. In The Source team for example, we’ve likely got a Little Miss Busy, a Little Miss Whoops and at least a couple of Mr Grumpys (of varying degrees depending on how close deadline is).
And this recognition of personality traits from ourselves, family or friends has gone a long way to helping the brand get to the successful position it is in today.
2016 marks the 45th anniversary of Mr Men Little Miss, and brand owner Sanrio has been busy coordinating and carrying out a year-long campaign of activity. This ranges from new publishing (from Egmont and e-book exclusives with Amazon), a raft of new consumer products and a babywear deal with Gap, through to high profile initiatives with TfL, Heathrow and the Royal Mail.
The first initiative was the introduction of four new characters – Mr Adventure (the face of the Heathrow campaign), Little Miss Fabulous, Mr Marvellous and Little Miss Sparkle. At the same time, the publishing programme was grown with the addition of the Adventure series and a range of baby board books.
The introduction of the Adventure series – which consists of four titles: Dinosaurs, Ancient Egypt, Pirates and Knights – has meant the brand has been able to move into the supermarkets, thanks to its larger format size working better on their shelves. Four new titles are in development for 2017.
Participation in Upfest – Europe’s biggest graffiti festival held in Bristol – saw a number of artists interpreting the popular characters in their own style, while a special exhibition and launch of the anniversary archive at the Oxo Tower in London was a huge success over the August bank holiday weekend, with over 12,000 visitors across the four days. Plans are in progress to tour this exhibition nationally in 2017.
The anniversary archive has enabled Sanrio to gather a wealth of original content and has inspired a new retro style guide which combines patterns, typography and illustrations from the original books, and will be appearing on new lines launching in 2017.
“There has certainly been a lot of activity this year – it’s probably the busiest year we’ve had for a long time,” says Alastair McHarrie, head of UK licensing for Mr Men Little Miss. “It’s put us in a really great position. Year in, year out we are a top five property in publishing, so we have been working on taking advantage of this and using it as a springboard into other areas.
“We’ve also been trying to expand the use of the characters – we have 87 classic characters and there are ones which we have not been utilising. It’s all about picking the right character for the right product.”
An upcoming range of novelty items from Wow Stuff is a good example of this – it includes the likes of a Mr Clever Mensa test to a Mr Lazy self-stirring mug and a pint glass which changes from Mr Happy when it’s full, through to Mr Worried and then Mr Grumpy when it’s empty.
Royal Mail launched a range of collectable products on October 20, while there is also a partnership with the charity Children with Cancer, driving participation in their fundraising initiatives like the London Marathon and through schools. Debenhams also has a cross category promotion in the pipeline for 2016.
Staying with retail, and the personalisation pop-up shop in Selfridges will be returning and expanding. Sanrio is working with Arnotts in Dublin and Fenwicks in Newcastle, as well as Selfridges in London, Manchester and Birmingham.
“I don’t think that Mr Men can be beaten when it comes to personalisation,” says Alastair. “You relate to the character traits and that’s why it works so well.
“We’ve already got huge brand awareness of Mr Men and now it’s about getting in front of more people and giving them the confidence to buy into the brand,” Alastair says. “We want retailers and licensees to explore new avenues and have fun with the brand. It’s a really exciting time to be here because we have so much happening with the brand that is really elevating it. And hopefully we can take it to that next level.”
And it doesn’t stop at Mr Men Little Miss. Sanrio is also working to expand the World of Roger Hargreaves. Hachette UK has relaunched a series of classic titles such as Count Worm, I am a Worm and Albert the Alphabetical Elephant.
Sanrio is also collaborating with BBC Worldwide and Doctor Who in 2017 – with the Doctors, Cybermen and Daleks among other characters being given a Hargreaves-style makeover.
Brand collaborations
It’s been a summer of major collaborations for the Mr Men Little Miss brand. First up, Sanrio once again teamed up with Transport for London, with selected characters appearing in the department’s behavioural campaign.
The two companies worked together to create 14 posters featuring different characters from the series. They are running across the tube, bus and rail network for at least one year, with posters on every tube platform and most bus stations.
Each carries a key message from TFL’s behavioural campaign such as ‘Please do not obstruct the doors’, ‘Please move along the platform’ and ‘Please allow others off before boarding’.
This was then followed by a partnership with Heathrow, which saw Mr Adventure become the face of the airport’s family experience. The initiative includes messages and signage for security lanes, ‘kids eat free’ at participating restaurants, baby changing and soft play areas.
There was also a series of costume character appearances and activity workshops across the summer, while a social media campaign comprising six mini videos will tell Mr Adventure’s story at Heathrow.
This feature originally appeared in the autumn edition of Licensing Source Book. Click here to read the full publication.
